Population dose due to natural radiation in Hong Kong
In densely populated cities such as Hong Kong where people live and work in high-rise buildings that are all built with concrete, the indoor gamma dose rate and indoor radon concentration are not wide ranging. Indoor gamma dose rates (including cosmic rays) follow a normal distribution with an arithmetic mean of 0.22 {+-} 0.04 {micro}Gy h{sup {minus}1}, whereas indoor radon concentrations follow a log-normal distribution with geometric means of 48 {+-} 1 Bq m{sup {minus}3} and 90 {+-} 2 Bq m{sup {minus}3} for the two main categories of buildings: residential and non-residential. Since different occupations result in different occupancy in different categories of buildings, the annual total dose [indoor and outdoor radon effective dose + indoor and outdoor gamma absorbed dose (including cosmic ray)] to the population in Hong Kong was estimated based on the number of people for each occupation; the occupancy of each occupation; indoor radon concentration distribution and indoor gamma dose rate distribution for each category of buildings; outdoor radon concentration and gamma dose rate; and indoor and outdoor cosmic ray dose rates. The result shows that the annual doses for every occupation follow a log-normal distribution. This is expected since the total dose is dominated by radon effective dose, which has a log-normal distribution. The annual dose to the population of Hong Kong is characterized by a log-normal distribution with a geometric mean of 2.4 mSv and a geometric standard deviation of 1.3 mSv.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Hong Kong (HK)
- OSTI ID:
- 20075784
- Journal Information:
- Health Physics, Vol. 78, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: May 2000; ISSN 0017-9078
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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